Grab Financial Partners With SM Investments
Grab Financial announced a partnership with SM Investments, marking a string of partnerships across six core Southeast Asia markets.
Grab, a ride-hailing platform, announced on Wednesday a partnership with SM Investments Corporation (SMIC) to rapidly expand the use of GrabPay mobile wallet in the Philippines.
«Our vision as the everyday wallet is to expand cashless opportunities to more Filipinos and Southeast Asians. This partnership calls to attention the size of the opportunity Grab’s ASEAN-wide user base offers, even to leading conglomerates and financial institutions like SMIC and BDO,» said Ooi Huey Tyng, managing director of GrabPay Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines in a media statement.
Partnerships in Southeast Asia
Grab has partnered with leading financial institutions or e-wallet players in various Southeast Asia markets: it has partnered UOB in Singapore, Maybank in Malaysia, BDO in the Philippines and KBank in Thailand as well as leading e-wallets OVO in Indonesia and Moca in Vietnam.
The Grab Financial platform is now available at SM Malls in Philippines with this announcement. «We are mindful of the evolving online-to-offline landscape especially in retail and continue to branch into new solutions that will unlock more benefits to our consumers,» said Frederic C. DyBuncio, chief executive of SMIC.
Transitioning Towards Cashless
According to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), e-payment transactions account for only one percent of total. GrabPay and SM announced their support for the central bank's goal in transitioning 20 percent of all transactions into cashless by 2020.
The partnership follows the approval of Grab's application to become an e-money issuer in the Philippines by BSP in August. Previously, GrabPay announced its mobile prepaid top-up feature in partnership with local telco companies.
